World Cup 2026: Should Adam Wharton make the England Squad?

England’s World Cup place next summer has now been confirmed, and so we are taking a look at some of the fringe players that could, and maybe should, make Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad.

Next up is Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton, who continues to garner rave reviews in the Premier League. 

England have a lot of strength going forward, but looking further back through the squad there seems to be a lack of deep-lying central midfielders. The Three Lions are still looking for the perfect partner for Declan Rice in their 4-2-3-1 system, so perhaps then, there is plenty of room for Wharton. 

Elliott Anderson has stepped up in the last couple of international breaks to great effect, and looks to be a certainty to travel with the squad to the World Cup at the time of writing. However, England may still be lacking the perfect holding midfielder. Or are they?

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Palace’s Wharton is everything England need in my opinion. He is press-resistant and just a wonderful young midfielder who has now proved himself at the top level. He was a key cog as the Eagles won the FA Cup last term, and he seems to step up a level when facing elite opposition. 

A big money move is surely not far away for the 21-year-old, but he deserves his spot in the squad now. He has just one England cap to his name, which came last summer of 2024 as he featured against Bosnia-Herzegovina but since then, perhaps surprisingly, he hasn’t featured on the pitch.

The last omission was controversial as Tuchel left him out of the friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

England World Cup 2026 Squad Odds

"He just gave me a message saying I'm playing well, I'm close and I deserve to be there but he's going to stick with the same team," said Wharton.

"That's football, I'm not too fussed about that. I can take the time off, go see my grandparents, and it's not the end of the world as there's another camp next month.

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"Nothing is expected. England have some top players and he's got a lot of players to choose from. No matter who he picks someone is not going to get in and there will be a fuss about it.

"I can't sit here and cry about it, this is football and I'm happy playing for Palace and getting minutes and trying to do as well as I can and improve and if I get picked, I get picked.”

It’s a wise head he has on young shoulders, and it’s hard to see how he isn’t ahead of some of the competition for those places. Rice and now Anderson look set in stone, but the other central midfielders are Jordan Henderson and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

I’m not sure there are many England fans that would have those two above Wharton right now, and given Kobbie Mainoo has fallen out of favour with Ruben Amorim at Manchester United, he is surely the prime contender to make a midfield spot his own. 

It will be a genuine disgrace is a fully-fit Wharton is left out of England’s 2026 World Cup squad, and the price of 8/11 is a tough one to judge. His quality and age profile makes that a good price, but he’s not played since 2024… which is a worry. Hopefully Tuchel sees the light and gets him involved in November and March. 

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